Caudipteryx

Caudipteryx zoui

Pronounced: cow -
DIP - tuh - riks

Diet: Carnivore
(Meat-Eater)

Name Means: Zou's
tail feathers

Length: 3 feet (1
m)

Height: 2 feet
(less than 1 m)

Weight: 15 pounds
(6 - 7 kilos)

Time: 140 million
years ago

Fossil remains for this
Dinosaur have been found in
Liaoning Province, China

Caudipteryx is one of several types of
feathered dinosaurs recently discovered in
China. These new finds have caused one of the
greatest controversies in modern paleontology.
They have many of the characteristics that were
expected in a "missing link" between dinosaurs
and birds, but they lived millions of years
after Archaeopteryx the first known bird
ancestor.

Caudipteryx was a turkey-sized dinosaur that had
feathers, but was unable to fly. It had short
forelimbs, large eyes and long, sharp, spiked teeth.
Quick and agile, it had long slender legs. The most
prominent feature of Caudipteryx had to be its tail,
which was covered with 6-inch-long tail feathers.
The feather fossils show bands of dark and light
that may have been color, giving us an idea of how
Caudipteryx looked.

Some of the evolutionary advantages feathers may
have provided to a flightless animal may include the
ability to control body heat, some protection from
teeth and claws, camouflage and identification.
Since Caudipteryx lived in a wetland area, it is
easy to imagine it wading into shallow water on its
long legs to spear small fish and amphibians with
its long sharp teeth. All known remains of
Caudipteryx have been found with gastroliths, or
"gizzard stones" about an inch in size. This
indicates Caudipteryx did not chew its food,
probably swallowing small prey whole.

Did Archaeopteryx
and Caudipteryx descend from a common ancestor? Or
was Caudipteryx a dinosaur sharing a convergent
evolution with birds. This will be a long and lively
debate.